Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson said during the debate Tuesday night that the doubling of the Earned Income Tax in the city would be permanent, not temporary.
04/18/2013
Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.com

Council President Wanda Williams said, “If we do the EIT tax, it will only be for a year.”

Not so, said Mayor Linda Thompson tuesday night.

"I've always said honesty is the best policy for public officials," Thompson said when asked about the tax being temporary or permanent. "That EIT tax will remain. It has to be a permanent tax."

The tax increase, which amounts to roughly $5 million in additional revenue from citizens, was part of the city's recovery plan and a key element in proving to a bankruptcy court - if the city ends up there - that the city bore its share of the pain during negotiations to get the $370 million in unpayable incinerator debt off its books.

"I can assure you no other taxes going forward," Thompson added. "We've done the heavy lifting. Now it's time for everyone else at the table to balance out what's needed."

For the most part, there were no major departures from the candidates' platforms (see summaries below).

Thompson hammered hard throughout the forum that 1,800 new businesses had been created - and 1,400 new jobs along with them - during her first term.

It's true that roughly 1,800 new businesses applied for licenses to operate within the city since Thompson took office. The Patriot-News has the list. But many of the businesses on the list - approximately 1,000 of them - are headquartered elsewhere, and simply applied to operate within the city.

Thompson's claim to have "created" those is certainly something more than a stretch.

The remaining 800 is another matter.

Thompson's point that business has not come to a stand-still or fled wholesale from the city during her term appears to be well taken.

She has not, however, produced the "net" number of businesses, balancing the new licenses with those that have lapsed and not been renewed. Thompson has promised those numbers, and the Patriot-News will follow-up.

Dan Miller did not attend the debate; his proxy, Alex Reber, explained that Miller had committed to attending the Government and Finance Officers Association of Pennsylvania annual meeting in State College long before the debate was scheduled.

Reber also noted that the meeting focused on best practices in government finance and offered an opportunity to network with professionals from other cities, which could provide an important benefit for Harrisburg.

That did not stop Eric Papenfuse from asking near the end of the debate, "Where is Dan Miller tonight?"

Harrisburg mayoral candidate Eric Papenfuse was notably more comfortable and dextrous during the debate Tuesday night, despite the fact he was often the target of other candidates' jabs.
Christine Baker | cbaker@pennlive.com
Christine Baker | cbaker@pennlive.com

Papenfuse made a strong showing at the debate - more relaxed, confident and conversational than past events. He wove disparate elements of his platform into his answers with a fluency and dexterity not previously evidenced.

Papenfuse was also the primary butt of jabs from both Thompson and the Miller campaign, which suggests the two leading candidates see him as more of a threat - if not to overtake them for the win, then to hurt them in their struggle against one another.

Miller's proxy Alex Reber offered only one significant jab at an opponent, and it was at Papenfuse, reminding voters that when Papenfuse was appointed to the Harrisburg Authority, he quit after just a couple of months.

Reber did so immediately after Papenfuse said that from 2006 to 2010 while Miller and Thompson were on City Council $34 million "was illegally diverted from the sewer trust fund" to the city's general fund to plug budget gaps.

Thompson took up Reber's point, repeatedly referring to Papenfuse as a "quitter."

Papenfuse has explained - then and now - that he quit because he wouldn't be party to fraud, which he believed the 2007 incinerator financing to be.

Tuesday night, Papenfuse compared himself to David Unkovic, saying "We did basically the same thing, except at the time, the Patriot-News refused to print my resignation letter."

Nobody at that time wanted to hear bad things about the incinerator finances, he said.

But in his self-defense, Papenfuse also seemed to forget what exactly happened in 2007.

"I was the one person who spoke out and voted against the incinerator financings," he said.

But he didn't vote; that was the point: he resigned - more than a week before the financing was approved, according to Patriot-News archives.

NOTE: ﻿﻿The Papenfuse Campaign has asked for a correction to the sentence above, claiming that he voted against the incinerator financing. We offer the following clarification, based on the official minutes of the Harrisburg Authority (links to the full text of the minutes below):

In the Harrisburg Authority meeting of Nov. 14, 2007, Eric Papenfuse seconded the motion to approve the undertaking of the proposed retrofit, but then voted against it after the other members of the board would not agree to change contract language allowing Covanta first right of refusal on any sale of the incinerator. Papenfuse explained that he believed the language as it existed made it nearly impossible to then sell the incinerator for five years. He indicated he favored a faster sale.

At the same meeting, Eric Papenfuse subsequently seconded the motion to "approve the undertaking of a project generally consisting of financing the working capital needs" of the incinerator in an amount not to exceed $43.5 million. He then voted against the measure for the same reasons stated above.

That was not the actual approval of financing for the incinerator, but rather an agreement "generally" to proceed with one of several financing options yet to be determined.

The final and actual approval of the financing occurred on Nov. 28, 2007, nine days after Papenfuse resigned from the board.

Thompson also referred to Papenfuse as a "want-to-be mayor" and the two sparred throughout the evening over who's done what, leadership style and personality.

Thumbnail Summary of the Platforms

Thompson emphasized her four main priorities: solvency for the city, public safety, business and jobs. She said the city is now close to solving its financial problems and "the right team is in place now" - it's no time to be changing course. She highlighted the results of her "safe zone" initiative to fight crime and emphasized the new business and jobs numbers mentioned earlier. "Please don't judge me based on my personality," said Thompson, who noted she has had to fight not only the worst financial crisis in the city's history, but also vicious press coverage and opponents.

Lewis Butts emphasized his hyper-local, Harrisburg-first outlook, saying the city can make do with its own native talent rather than relying on a lot of outsiders. Among his ideas for Harrisburg: a hydro-electric dam across the Susquehanna, an adventure park at the site of the failed Capitol View development at Cameron and Herr, an aquarium at the Market Street Post Office building and capitalizing on the city's Civil War heritage to build local pride and tourism revenue.

Eric Papenfuse changed his would-be title from "Crime Czar" to "Crime Commissioner," but said having the mayor in charge of analyzing the big picture of crime in the city is still very important. He said generally, the cause of crime in the city is there's not enough activities for young people. He proposes having school libraries open at night and hiring youths to clean-up trash in a jobs program financed by voluntary payments in lieu of taxes from non-profits. He proposes a city-wide 3-1-1 system for accountability on infrastructure repairs and wants to spur development through tax abatements.

Nevin Mindlin emphasized his belief that the City Beautiful campaign that transformed Harrisburg 100 years ago into a model for other cities across the country can be replicated in the 21st century. Focusing on the basics of crime and blight, he said, will bring people back to the city, and with them, vitality.

Alex Reber, speaking for Dan Miller, outlined four main goals of a Miller mayoralcy: restoring democracy by getting out from under the state-appointed receiver; finding a solution to the city's financial crisis, "including bankruptcy, if necessary"; rebuilding morale in City Hall through strong leadership, competent management and updated technology; and focusing on the basics like getting street lights back on, fixing potholes, completing audits and making city government more user-friendly.

Reber said the controller's office gets multiple calls a day from people asking simply for a phone number. Why? Because of one small, but illustrative, fact: when you go to the city website and click on "directory," Reber said, you get "Oops, page not available."

Reber was paraphrasing, and his account was not entirely accurate.

The actual message on the city website says: "Oops! Looks like the page you're looking for has been moved or had its name changed. Or maybe it's just fate. You could use the search box in the header to search for what you're looking for, or begin again from the home page."

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